


False Face

by Blackpenny



Category: Blake et Mortimer | Blake and Mortimer
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-20
Updated: 2016-11-20
Packaged: 2018-09-01 03:24:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 2,094
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8605387
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blackpenny/pseuds/Blackpenny
Summary: In The Gondwana Shrine, Professor Mortimer briefly explains how he escaped the Antarctic in Olrik's form. This is an exploration of that unseen episode, and part of my body switch series.





	1. Waking

**Author's Note:**

  * For [darkrogue1 (Lily_Haydee_Lohdisse)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lily_Haydee_Lohdisse/gifts).



Struggling to wake is like climbing through gelatin. Mortimer gasps, groans, struggles to move his limbs and finally, with an effort, snaps his eyes open. Broken glass. He takes several deep breaths of icy air and tries to find his voice. “Help! Blake! Nasir! Help!” Nobody answers.

Mortimer’s head pounds as he pushes the lid of the sarcophagus aside. With an effort, he hauls himself out of the narrow box and collapses, gasping on the ice sheet. The headache is truly awful. Looking up, Mortimer realizes in an instant that he is alone apart from the dead, and that Gondwana station has been devastated. Mortimer rises to his feet and reels with a momentary dizziness.

It’s ridiculous. This is not his body. To see through another person’s eyes – literally – is the strangest thing Mortimer has ever experienced. He feels physically and emotionally unmoored by a sensation of being so profoundly in the wrong place. It’s almost too disorienting to bear, but this is not the time to think about it. Mortimer carefully makes his way through the ruins. So many dead, but none are his friends, thank god. He pauses for a moment before Gita’s body; even in death she looks angry. Mortimer covers his former lover’s face with a scrap of cloth and gives himself a moment to mourn. Someone will no doubt come to claim the bodies.

The special wetsuit created by Acoka’s – Gita’s – people is keeping him from freezing, but it won’t do for the long run. This body appears to be more susceptible to the cold than his own. Damn Olrik, who is probably holding court in some snug cabin, perhaps drinking a brandy. Damn him! Mortimer finds clothes and boots that fit loosely over his wetsuit. Luckily, Olrik is easy to fit, although the pants are a bit short and Mortimer has to fill out the boots with three pairs of socks. Finding food and water is a little more difficult, but eventually he has three full canteens and a few packets of nuts under his coat. 

Taking an inventory of the damaged vehicles available to him, Mortimer settles on a snowmobile with a full tank and a torn seat. The larger vehicles seem more likely to break down and he knows that if he navigates correctly the journey ahead will take only a few hours.


	2. Follow the Stars

The night is clear and breathtakingly cold, every star sharp and glittery. In his bookish and adventurous youth, Mortimer used to play at celestial navigation, but that was always in a known area, where help was readily available. Tonight it is a matter of life or death, but the professor is confident. He sites the Southern Cross, does a bit of quick reckoning, and points his snowmobile towards the Norwegian base.

The wind is biting, but not strong enough to create any blinding snow squalls. Luckily, Olrik possesses the eyes as well as the profile of an eagle, and Mortimer is able to avoid cracks and depressions in the ice as he quickly but carefully makes his way over the ice. Travel goes slowly and sometimes Mortimer feels the fear rise in his soul. He breathes deeply, and takes rationed sips of water, trusting in the navigation, hoping the snowmobile will hold up.

And some unknown time later Mortimer spots a pinprick of light in the distance. His sober side warns of mirages even as his heart exults, but the spot of light grows bigger and bigger until Mortimer hears motors and the joyous sound of barking dogs. By the time Mortimer reaches the entrance of Norway Station there is an armed welcoming committee waiting for him. He shuts off the snowmobile, raises his hands in the air, and calls out to the row of puzzled Norwegians. “I’m a friend! Please! I need your help!”


	3. Respite

It isn’t until he raises the glass of hot brandy-and-water to his lips that Mortimer recalls that the face he’s currently wearing isn’t one you can take just anywhere. Luckily none of his hosts seems to follow crime news. Five men listen to Mortimer’s edited version of the Gondwana story; the three youngest are introduced by first names – Lars, Knut, and Anders - the two older, bearded men are Dr. Holm and Dr. Jacobsen. They don’t ask questions, but they occasionally exchange glances and murmurs with each other. Mortimer gets the impression that they believe his story in the main but know he’s leaving out some details. They’re right. Mortimer has given his real name (why not?) and told most of the story, but the body-swap is just too science fiction to divulge.

After a brief conference, the Norwegians guide Professor Mortimer to a cot in a fairly private section of the station. Lars and Anders show up with a pile of clothes, a cloth and a small amount of hot water for washing, and some bread and cheese. Lars claps him on the back, and Anders briefly explains where he can relieve himself, and what to do if he needs anything.

Mortimer strips the layers of clothes and the wetsuit from the body he currently inhabits with a sense of dread. Olrik is well built enough, but as Mortimer expected, he’s experienced some recent wear, although not as much the typical Gulag inmate. He is underfed, however, and there are a lot of bruises, plus a nasty goose egg on his head, which might account for the ache, although Mortimer suspects the rays are also at fault. There’s no mirror here, which is just fine for now. Mortimer stares at the unfamiliar limbs for a moment and decides, yet again, that this is not something he can mentally deal with right now. He washes up as best he can, changes into flannel pajamas, and eats the bread and cheese slowly. Never has anything tasted so good.

Lars returns for a moment with some drinking water and a few white pills, which he suggests Mortimer take to sleep or for his pain. It’s unclear, but Mortimer takes the medicine gratefully and crawls into the cot. The crude bed is a little short for this body, and Mortimer thinks this will keep him from sleeping, but within minutes the white pills take effect and he is free of waking care.


	4. Dawning Realizations

Professor Mortimer wakes many hours later with his feet hanging over the edge of the cot and his bladder fit to burst. He bolts upright and is assaulted again by the sense of wrongness. He rushes to the head and forces his mind to detach and do what is necessary. An unexpected quirk of anatomy leaves him momentarily flummoxed, but Mortimer is a man of the world and rises to the challenge. He washes his hands carefully with the limited water available and returns to his nest. 

Knut, who seems to be the youngest of the group, shows up as Mortimer is putting his boots on. He leads the professor to a sort of dining hall where the men clear a space for him on a bench. They eat salty ham, boiled eggs, soft flat bread with jam, and strong coffee. Dr. Holm explains that while he was sleeping, reports of massive disturbances at Gondwana and the World’s Fair have piled in. Ah, good, they believe him now. The atmosphere is positively friendly. Jacobsen – bless him – mentions that he will be returning to Norway in two days to deliver data and recover his health. Mortimer is more than welcome to tag along. It will be nice to have a fellow scientist to chat with on the long journey.

Mortimer is relieved and grateful. Two days is not so long to wait for safe passage home. It will give him time to plan – and to worry. Heaven knows what deviltry Olrik will get up to in the safety of Mortimer’s form, but the professor consoles himself that the villain will likely proceed cautiously. It’s not like he can show up and start working as a physicist. He’ll probably feign illness and take some time off, get the lay of the land. Jumping into Mortimer’s physical form was one of the colonel’s typically impulsive moves, but give the man credit, in his actual criminal career, he is meticulous and cool-headed up to the moment of defeat.

It occurs to Mortimer that Olrik may be dealing with his own feelings of upheaval. Perhaps being in the wrong body is as difficult for the criminal as it is for the professor. Mortimer has suffered from headaches and vertigo since he came to in the sarcophagus, so maybe Olrik has similar symptoms. He can only hope.


	5. Inventory

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning, includes mild anatomy talk

In an effort to get used to this blasted body, Mortimer strips to the skin and takes a good long look when he has some private time. He takes an inventory from the feet up – long, bony feet at that. Olrik is just a hair under six feet tall and weighs 170 pounds, which is probably 10 or so pounds below normal. Despite the colonel’s bull neck, he isn’t particularly bulky. His body is good of its type, perfectly normal with no claws or extra bits. The pale olive skin bears an unusual number of scars, some recent, some very old, but the colonel appears to have his appendix intact and there are no signs of really terrible injuries, no awful burns or signs of multiple surgeries. The shoulders are wide, the hips narrow, and the muscle tone is decent considering where this body has been lately. 

No tattoos, no vaccination marks. The body hair is a bit sparse, but again, nothing unusual. Mortimer sighs and continues his inventory. The colonel’s penis is a decent size, but not remarkable, and uncircumcised. Mortimer resents the extra handling and hygiene this entails, but while it feels strange there’s nothing sexual about it. The left shoulder aches from time to time and the knees creak a bit, but the colonel’s body is not the most inconvenient temporary home one could have.

The face is the worst. It’s not an ugly face, exactly, but the associations are terrible. Mortimer deliberately smoothes out the features, removing the colonel’s characteristic scowl. Large, dark blue eyes, a little bloodshot with headache, heavy, arched eyebrows, high cheekbones, a sharp jaw and chin, and that harsh beak of a nose; it’s not a face that projects warmth, even when relaxed. The mussed hair and black whisker shadow make him look like a pirate. Mortimer combs the hair back with a bit of water, which is a very mild improvement. He takes the razor – on loan from Knut – and scrapes the stubble away. It’s been a long time since Mortimer shaved off a beard! Only that wretched mustache is left. Mortimer is about to swipe is away in spite when he realizes that Olrik’s long plank of a face needs something to break it up. He covers it with a finger and notes that a bare-faced Olrik looks like an undertaker. A thick mustache, and he’s serving spaghetti with garlic bread. The thought gives Mortimer his first laugh in days. Olrik probably realized the same thing many years back, Mortimer thinks as he resentfully shapes the colonel’s customary pencil mustache.


	6. Moving On

After 48 hours of inhabiting Olrik’s body, Mortimer realizes something; he does not fear the colonel the same way. Even since Lhassa the sight of Olrik’s face, the sound of his voice has caused a surge of terror and adrenaline, but now, nothing. The infamous colonel can’t handle a glass of milk without gut pain or a punch to the jaw without falling over. He gets sinus headaches and can’t sleep through the night without getting up to pee. His hands and feet get cold easily and he burps if he eats cucumber. It’s just a human body, just a human face. Olrik was born into it the same way everyone else was and is subject to human frailties and needs. He’s a terrible person, but he’s just a person, not a monster, not a force of nature. 

This gives Mortimer heart. While he’s been dealing with the trauma of the war perfectly competently, there was always this residual hurt, until now. He won’t underestimate the colonel – that would indeed be stupid. No doubt Olrik will try to bring harm to Blake, to Sarah, and to Nastasia, but there is only so much he can do in a limited time. What’s more, Olrik doesn’t realize that he’s being pursued. He’ll relax in London while Mortimer follows, stealthily, prepared to protect his loved ones. Olrik won’t know what hit him.


End file.
